With the season almost at the quarter-pole, the Capitals are in somewhat dire straits , holding a 2-8-1 record with only 37 games left in the regular season. But Washington fans may find some cause for optimism by recalling the team’s 1995 season. Just as with this year, an NHL lockout led to a 48-game season, and those Caps also got off to an awful start. Here is a comparison between the two squads, through 11 games:

1995

2013

2-7-2*

Record

2-8-1

6

Points in standings

5

20

Goals for

25

30

Goals against

41

13out of 14

Rank in conference

15out of 15

* —The last number indicates ties; in 2013 it indicates overtime losses. But they both give a team one point in the standings, with wins counting for two.

In fact, it didn’t get any better for the 1995 Capitals over their next seven contests, at which point they had the second-worst record in the entire league and were third-worst in scoring. But — and here is where fans should hope history continues to repeat itself — the ’95 Caps then went on a major tear. Not surprisingly, the dramatic turnaround involved better play on both the offensive and defensive ends:

First 18 games

Next 17 games

3-10-5

Record

13-2-2

2.06

Goals scored per game

3.35

5.3

Goals allowed per game

1.94

From there, the team went 6-6-1 and finished the season 22-18-8, good for the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. (And a typically gut-wrenching seven-game loss to the hated Penguins in the first round, but the less said about that, the better, right?)

So how were the ’95 Caps able to get so hot? Of course, it took a team effort, but it also took major improvement in two specific areas that have echoes in 2013: the star offensive player and the goaltending. Much like Alex Ovechkin nowadays (3 goals, 4 assists), Peter Bondra was an Eastern European sniper who was having trouble shaking off a scoring slump from the previous season:

G

A

Bondra, first 18 games of 1995

7

2

But Bondra was able to rediscover his scoring touch:

G

A

Bondra, final 30 games of 1995

27

7

In fact, Bondra’s 34 total goals wound up leading the NHL. It may be asking too much for Ovechkin to scale similar heights this season, but there is little doubt that he needs to start looking more like his old self for the 2012 Caps to enjoy sustained success.

One of the weakest facets of this season’s Capitals has been the goaltending. As in 1995, the team has started the season relying on a pair of young goaltenders, who have struggled:

Goalies, thru 11 games

Age

Save pct.*

1995

Olaf Kolzig

24

.878

Rick Tabaracci

26

.893

2012

Michal Neuvirth

24

.889

Braden Holtby

23

.857

* — Note that a save percentage below .900 is considered poor.

In 1995, the goaltending fix was born of what then-Coach Jim Schoenfeld called the “desperate situation” of that 18-game start. The Capitals decided to promote 20-year-old Jim Carey from the minor leagues, and he went on to have a sensational debut, finishing second in the NHL in goals against average:

1995

GP

W

L

SV%

GAA

SO

Jim Carey

28

18

6

.913

2.13

4

This year’s Capitals are unlikely to pull a net-minding savior from their top minor league team, which currently employs 32-year-old journeyman Dany Sabourin and 21-year-old Philipp Grubauer, who is inexperienced even at the AHL level. Besides, the Caps are presumably still confident that either Neuvirth or Holtby, both of whom have had effective stretches in the NHL, can improve their play and take over the job. But if the duo continues to struggle, the team will eventually have to investigate alternate options, such as the trade market.

The good news is that the Capitals have been in a predicament uncannily similar to the one they are in now, and in that previous instance, they proved that a bad start in a shortened season does not mean that the postseason is out of the question. Of course, avoiding another gut-wrenching playoff loss . . . well, the Caps just need to worry about getting to that bridge, never mind crossing it.

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Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.